Birds In A Gilded Cage
by Eltas Aldaron 31
Summary: Leliana catches wind of Empress Celene's new Occult Advisor, racing her pulse and her hopes.
1. Chapter 1 - Masks We Hide Behind

**Birds In A Gilded Cage**

…

Masks inlaid in gold and encrusted in gems turned round and round as pairs twirled together on the flawless floor of quartz-veined marble. To the beat of percussion and the melodious waves of flutes and lyre did the dancers rock and sway, keeping timing with the kind of music only heard in the Empress's court. The Nightingale observed it all from the second floor as her sinewy frame leant over the balustrade, hands clasped together before her. The masks revealed only eyes and lips and the Spymaster's attention flitted about settling on words and names that sparkled in her bright mind. She collected information like a bird collects baubles, turning it around and viewing every facet before storing it for later use. Keen, steely eyes flickered from one set of lips to another and picked up conversations when sound was lost in the din.

"Apostate." Sapphire eyes flicked to a noble holding his drink aloft allowing it to slosh out of the glass' rim.

"She is quite the charmer if you know what I mean." The nightingale turned her attention to the woman touching the noble man's shoulders.

"I hear the Empress is quite taken with her." Leliana read their lips keenly.

"She showed up one day, all fire and sparks." Another couple joined the conversation.

"Quite a beauty, though I hear she's a barbarian from that backwater place—hair dark, like a raven. Golden eyes, like a cat." Leliana's lips twitched at the corners, before she caught herself and schooled a cold stony expression once more. Clear eyes now eagerly scanned the rest of the ballroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Empress' new "Occult Advisor". She searched each guest, averting her gaze from all but the dark haired women. On her second pass, her eyes rested on delicate bare shoulders, framed by rivulets of raven locks. Gold and jewels adorned her graceful neck and a gilded gold mask hid everything but the point of a familiar chin. The woman wore layered red velvet, cut low accentuating the mounds of her cleavage. The dress tapered in sharply down her torso, revealing a slim waist. Leliana's hands hummed, her fingertips tingling from the memory of snaking her hands around an old lover's waist and pulling her close. The crushed layers fanned out fantastically from her hips and swept the floor as the woman she observed walked towards the grand staircase.

The Nightingale eyed the woman as she wended her way past dancers and noble merry makers, her stride rocking those hips side to side just as the Spymaster had seen countless times. Long fingered hands clutched at the skirt of her dress, lifting them slightly from her ankles as each slippered foot touched upon the steps. Closer and closer she came and the Spymaster's heart seemed to beat faster with each footfall on the carpeted stair. At the top of the landing, those delicate fingers glided along the rich wood railing as the raven-haired woman followed its curve around to the second floor. Sapphire eyes found those swaying hips again, Leliana's mouth becoming parched so that she had to lick her lips. The woman came closer, that railing would take her steps straight down the Nightingale's perch. Seeing her quarry approach made Leliana's stomach clench into knots like they had not in an eternity. Resolutely she turned her gaze back down the dancers on the floors, feigning indifference. Her heart, on the other hand could very well be beating out of her chest. The blazer she wore now constricted her breath and forced heat up and around her neck. The raven-haired woman a mere couple of steps away and it took all the Spymaster's nerve not to meet those golden eyes she was certain to find beyond that gilded mask. She took a secret deep breath, hidden as best as she could manage as the woman just about passed her by. Would that moment never end she wondered and she gripped the railing in her hand. Just when the possible encounter was all but over she felt it.

Long fingered hands graced the small of her back as the woman walked behind her. Caught by surprise she gasped and stiffened, turning her gaze to the woman now walking down the hall from her.

Morrigan, she mouthed silently and as if called by her name, the woman stopped a few paces from her and demurely turned her head to the side as if asking if she would follow. Heart in her mouth Leliana's feet moved of their own accord, falling in a step or two behind the raven. Almost together they walked the long hall in silence till the music dissipated from the room. The lights from the enormous chandeliers dimmed giving way to the soft glow of the sconces on the walls. The raven led and they entered a solid oak door second to last in the hall.

With the door closed behind them, the room was dark and Leliana slowed her steps to give her eyes time to adjust. Soft lips pressed against hers. Warm hands glided up and around the back of her neck pulling her closer as their kiss deepened. The Spymaster's own hands snaked around that familiar slim waist, her fingers running against the velvet's grain. A hot tongue spiced with wine danced with hers. Leliana drank her lover's kiss like the first draft of clear water after years of thirst.

Hastily buttons on her jacket were twisted open, and her shirt pulled up and over her head. Familiar caress cupped her breasts, thumbs running across her pebbling nipples. Heated lips followed them, searing them with an ache she had denied herself for so long. In the darkness, Leliana's hands cupped her lover's jaw as a trail of kisses blazed their way down her abdomen. Hands tugged away her contraband, unfastening her trousers and pulling them down off her hips. The raven pressed her against the door, her hands holding her hips and effectively the rest of her body against that hard surface while lips touched and teased at the hair on her mound. Hot breath caressed her aching nub of nerves. Her eyes had finally adjusted and the Nightingale looked down on those golden pools of light once more. Plum coloured lips curved in a smile and a perfect dark brow arched. Fire blazed between her legs as those lips touched upon her flesh for the first time in a decade. The Spymaster let out a long groan and a soft giggle tumbled from her lover's lips, followed by wet sounds of her kisses.

"Morrigan."

...

 _ **Prompt:**_

 _The pairing goes to a royal ball. They could be dancing, engorging themselves on posh food, or even just hiding from the others._


	2. Chapter 2 - Unexpected Reunion

**Note: It seems this little one-shot has more to it. I am very excited about writing this pairing and I'm hoping it develops into a series of chapters. Thanks for the encouragement SilentStormSociety and to Thesegoto11 thanks for looking over this for me. If you haven't read their stuff, head on over and check them out! Hope you all enjoy this next chapter, as always feedback is always welcome. Also if you are interested in joining a bunch of creative writers and readers in a supportive and friendly setting head to my profile for the link on Bards of Thedas and Thessia!**

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 **Chapter 2 Unexpected Reunion**

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Long fingered hands pressed against the bard's hips. "I've missed the sound of my name leaving your lips." Morrigan dug her nails into the bard's soft flesh just enough to make her lover squirm against her mouth. Teeth grazed along the outside of her entrance only to be soothed by a long flick of the witch's tongue.

Aching and wanting, Leliana's lips parted with a groan, her hips eagerly pressing forward in soft undulating waves. The witch's tongue found her slick groove easily, over and over again, lapping the bard's salty sweet nectar. "Oh Maker, how I've missed your mouth on me," she all but crooned melodically into the darkened room, her fingers grabbing a fist of raven locks.

"So it would appear." A low laugh tumbled from the witch's lips before her tongue protruded and probed inside the bard's wet quivering entrance.

"Ahh, Morriga—" Leliana's words was quickly swallowed by another groan, this time, louder and reverberating through her lover's ample quarters. The witch joined her with a low groan of her own as she savoured every drop she coaxed out of the bard. Her hands reached around the bard's firm yet supple ass, grabbing the tensing muscles and pulling them forward against her face, eagerly drinking her in and entirely happy that the Nightingale's essence now dripped down her chin. Her taste as always was exquisite and the witch greedily eked out more causing her lover to buck hard against her face and the door behind her till the bard's cries rose to a telling crescendo that ended with a shuddering gasp.

With a sharp quiver, the bard buckled forward suddenly, her parted lips finding the top of Morrigan's head, taking in the witch's intoxicating scent of jasmine and sandalwood through quick pants. Midnight strands, played against her tongue as she pressed her lips upon that crown of dark locks. Softly Orlesian profanity tumbled out while tears tracked down her delicate cheeks. "Tell me you're real and this isn't a dream."

The soft upturn of plum lips against her slick folds forced the bard's eyes to close again. "I never thought I'd miss the foolish things you say." That same sardonic sound never changed but the bard detected the witch's sentiment was genuine. Assertively she grasped at the neckline of Morrigan's dress heedless of how delicate it looked and pulled her lover up to meet her hungry kiss. Sweetness and salt and a hint of spice flooded her mouth as the witch's tongue explored her mouth with just as much enthusiasm.

During soft moans, Morrigan swayed on her feet as the bard guided her backwards to the four poster bed, draped in sumptuous burgundy velvet. Not wanting another moment to pass the bard pushed her lover onto her back while she continued her kisses down her graceful neck, sucking hard in places and marking the witch's pale skin here and there with purpling bruises. One particular spot always elicited a low growl from her lover and she smiled hearing it as her teeth raked the hollow of that bared throat. As the witch squirmed beneath her, the bard's hands shot into the heaving bodice in front of her and pawed at the soft mound of flesh, easing it out of its confines and exposing a hardening nipple. Expertly she thumbed the pale rosy bud over and over till it tightened and pebbled against her touch. The witch moaned hard, her hips bucking up, desperate to get contact and friction between her legs.

"Damnation Leliana!" Morrigan panted, her hands pulling the bard's half naked form down on top of her. "Do not tease." Golden eyes smouldered with heat and lust, meeting the darkening storm in cerulean pools. Without breaking eye contact the bard flipped Morrigan's dress up, snaking her hand along warm quivering thighs, not stopping till her fingers reached their apex—a hot, slick and throbbing groove and a swollen bud that nestled within its folds. Avidly the Nightingale observed full plum coloured lips part with a silent groan that ended in a soft keen. How she had missed the sight of her lover experiencing her touch. Morrigan's hips bucked against her hand and quickly they found that familiar shared rhythm that steadily built as the witch's pleasure neared a crest. With a slight adjustment of her wrist, Leliana slipped two fingers into the witch's molten core, thrusting hard and curving up to hit the sensitive spot in her front wall.

The Raven came undone with hard bucks and short, fast moans that filled the dimly lit chamber. Leliana's hand slowed just a fraction guiding the last waves of her lover's pleasure till she released a second smaller crest, that saw tears rolling from dark lashes along porcelain cheeks. Dishevelled and panting, her dark sweaty locks broken away from that bun, the witch quivered a final time before sinking back into the down-filled mattress beneath her.

Leliana stared a long while at the woman before her. A woman she loved, one who disappeared without a trace for ten excruciating years. A woman who, despite the pain and heartache and despair she caused, was still very much loved by the Nightingale. Golden eyes hidden by closed lids flashed open suddenly as a deep sob welled out of the Spymaster's throat.

"Beloved?" Those golden orbs darted about, as her hands grasped the Nightingale's heaving shoulders.

"You left." Eyes darkened to the colour of sapphire, rimmed with tears. "Without a word Morrigan."

"Yes, I did." Dark brows furrowed above a golden glance that shot to the bed between them. "I have regretted it ever since."

"Regretted…" The bard scoffed, before she took a steadying breath, her voice evening out again. "Regretted, yet in all these years you never remedied it."

"I am sorry, Leliana." Sorry was a word Morrigan never uttered, and yet there it was and the bard could hear its sincerity.

"I'm a fool. I was then and I am now." Leliana shook her head and began to stand.

"Please, I had to protect him." Slender, ivory fingers caught the bard's hand with an iron grip. "I wanted to see you—so many times, I wanted to see you." Morrigan's voice shook uncharacteristically. "But I had to stay away." Her raven head bowed and her shoulders shook.

Leliana paused, for a moment before sitting back down wrapping the witch in a sudden embrace. Desperately she sought out those lips, kissing them hard, their salty tears mingling in their mouths.

"Don't go. Please." Another word the witch never used. Leliana nodded and scooted them both up the bed. She pulled off her pants and boots before helping her lover ease out of the dress. Together their warm bodies entwined under the covers, fitting closely together like no time had passed at all.

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" _Excuse me." Leliana squeezed past the Warden's companions, accidentally brushing warm, smooth skin. The touch was silken heat, like long lonely nights when all she had was her hand between her legs to help pass the time. The woman she touched gazed at her with most unusual eyes—like radiant pools of light flecked with gold. They widened slightly and darkened in the centre, before suddenly narrowing then turning away. Alabaster arms crossed at her chest against purple robes and the bard noticed long-fingered hands, wrapping around them. Leliana stood transfixed, for a heartbeat or a candle mark she couldn't tell. The stranger was aloof, almost disdainful, but the bard knew what desire looked like, she had elicited it in many eyes before. Eyes that widen and darken like that, was a sight she was very familiar with. She tucked the piece of knowledge away in her mind to examine later, along with the awareness that her own eyes mirrored that expression. Leliana continued to the Warden placing herself between him and a guard. She put a hand against both their chests, halting their conflict._


	3. Chapter 3 - Needs and Necessities

**Chapter 3 Needs and Necessities**

Notes of incense rode Leliana's intake of breath as she woke. Sandalwood was what she burned in her rookery every day, the same scent that had clung to the witch in the days of the Blight. For a dizzying moment she believed she was in Skyhold, having fallen asleep at her desk again, but then the soft bed beneath her gave with her lover's shifting weight. Sapphire eyes flew open to the sight of a smooth shoulder like pale marble, draped with inky rivulets that have escaped a loosened bun. With a soft gasp, Leliana became aware of the warm torso that her lax arm rested around. Softly carefully as if she held a wild thing, she moved her fingers to gently caress the witch's belly with the tips of her digits. It was firm, yet softer than hers, rounding slightly the further downwards her hand traveled. She timed each rise and fall of Morrigan's breath with her own, noting that her lover was still in deep slumber. She closed her eyes again, her brow bowing towards a soft tangle of hair about the witch's neck. Plump lips touched the base of her lover's neck as they murmured softly a prayer that this was no dream. As if to answer, Morrigan shifted her weight again before delicate fingers covered the Nightingale's hand, grasping and anchoring her, though the witch continued sleeping. The ache in her chest surged forward suddenly and desperately she bit back a strangled cry. No sound came, but her auburn lashes clung together with tears she could not restrain. Softly she let out a pained breath and held the witch tighter in her arms. The warmth between them built and it calmed then lulled her to sleep once more.

Weak sunlight seeped through the windows and Leliana felt another presence in the room. Her body grew taut in response, protectively covering her lover's body with her own. She waited for a heartbeat or two, mind racing to where here dagger might be in the pile of discarded attire strewn about on the flagstone floor. A slight weight dipped the side of the bed behind her and she readied for a fight.

"Momma?" a small voice dashed all tension from her body. He was small, no more than ten winters old, perhaps. She turned about slowly and found two large pairs of amber eyes widened as it met hers.

"Hello." She smiled, not wanting to spook the child further. "Your mother is sleeping." It was strange to know Morrigan was a mother, yet the child before her had the jut of her chin. "Is there anything you need? Shall I wake her?" Leliana was at a loss, it had been decades since she had dealings with children.

"I had a bad dream… there were Darkspawn after me." The child trembled visibly before her, though he tried hard not to show it. It put her much in mind of how Morrigan looked before the final battle all those years ago that it melted her heart.

"Well then, I'm sure your mother won't mind if you climbed in next to her." With a gentle gesture, she pulled back the blanket at the far end of the bed next to her lover. The little boy climbed in, fitting against his mother's sleeping frame. She covered them both up and tried to find sleep once more though her mind busied itself for a candle mark, reordering several memories in her head. Eventually, she succumbed once again to warm body of her love sleeping next to her, joining her in sleep.

The Nightwatch called for the early hours of dawn much too soon and Morrigan opened her eyes reluctantly. She had not slept so peacefully in years and she did not want to start the day yet. Behind her were the soft breaths of a love, long lost and before her, Kieran lay asleep against her chest. A moment of alarm shook the last vestiges of sleep from her. Gently she sat up, careful not to wake the boy but the shifting of her body, however, woke her lover.

Sapphire eyes bordered with scarlet lashes opened slowly. "You're a mother, love?" Leliana's tone soft with sleepiness. After a pause the witch nodded, gently smoothing the hair from her son's brow. "When you said last night that you left to protect him, I had thought you meant Aidan."

Morrigan slowly shook her head, still speechless, still trying to find the words that could explain her sudden absence from her lover's life. Leliana slowly sat up, cupping her lover's cheek and noting the consternation in the set of her features. "He looks like both of you." Those words drove a dagger through her heart, remembering fully the hurt and pain she tried to spare the love of her life.

"I did a necessary thing… at the time it was simply caring for a man I had come to know as a friend as well as an obligation to a larger plan my mother had instructed me to follow." Raven lashes closed and tears brimmed along them. "You were not part of the plan. I was not supposed to love you."

Leliana's hand found her way to an ivory cheek, gently cupping it. "There are many things I still do not understand and I wish you could have said something all those years ago." Plum coloured lips before her trembled as they bit back the tears.

"I wanted to, Leliana." Morrigan's breath caught raggedly as she stifled a sob, careful not to wake her son. "But fear was instilled in me as soon as my mother told me of her plan." It still haunted her that she ran off without a word of goodbye to whom she loved most in the world. _How could she ever be forgiven for that?_

"Could you tell me now?" Leliana did her best not to sound demanding, though every bit of her craved to know why she had been abandoned, cast aside feeling like it was all just a ruse - the love and trust she was shown, just another lie. She had looked for the witch for years but her efforts only turned up whispers of rumours, never satisfying her need. Now she waited as Morrigan took a breath.

"Momma?" The smallest voice croaked in the far end of the bed. Morrigan shot her lover an apologetic glance before turning to her son and cradling him.

"Another dream, my dear?" She kissed his brow, inhaling the scent of sleep and lemon balm from his daily bath. The boy nodded against her lips. She had to protect him at all cost, not just from the day to day dangers of living on the road, moving place to place, but from the real danger of Flemeth whom she knew would return to claim her price. Through her beloved and the Wardens help, Flemeth missed her chance to steal her daughter's body. She was defeated but Morrigan knew her too well to believe that was the last she would hear from her mother. "I had dreams too, my sweet, terrible dreams." Gently she caressed the top of his head, ruffling his hair. "But I had friends to who helped and a love who comforted me when I woke in the night." Morrigan's glance found their way to sapphire points.

For a breathless moment, Leliana held that stare. There was sadness there and regret. After all these years, Morrigan had made herself known to her again. Part of her reeled, not wanting to be hurt and abandoned again, yet another part, a stronger part, craved to be by her lover's side. Quietly she observed mother and son. This facet of the woman she had known a decade ago was new. Morrigan rocked her son gently as she spoke soothing words. The spymaster's bright mind quickly assimilated the witch's display of affection with awe.

"Now my dear, I need you to attend to your morning rituals and studies." The boy nodded obediently before kissing his mother on the cheek and hopping off the bed to toddle back to his own room. The oaken door shut behind him and left the two women alone again, in silence.

Leliana was the first to speak. "That last night when you came to me, I knew something was bothering you. You trembled in a way I had never felt." Leliana covered the witch's hand with hers. "When I asked what the matter was, you simply shook your head and kissed me hard."

"I knew what I had done and I knew I would lose you regardless of anything I could have said." Morrigan hated how her voice trembled. She hated too that the pain that came with recalling her last night in her lover's arms. "I was with Aidan that night, to perform a ritual that would save his life and produce a child." She wanted to close her eyes to the brief dismay that crossed Leliana's features. Close her eyes to the sapphire pools that turned icy and the frame that stiffened and started to pull away. She wanted to close her eyes but instead, she cast them down only to find the warm, calloused hand retreating from hers.

Leliana wanted to run, to never hear what really happened between her love and the Warden that night. Leliana's lips flattened to a grimace, her arms crossed her chest part to still her trembling and part to desperately hold together the flying pieces of her heart. It was one thing to wonder, to deduce and formulate a story she barely had any information to build on, and another to hear the truth. The silence grew thick and she let it entomb her, isolating her from the world. She let it be her armour once more, turning her back to the Spymaster who had to survive the years of endless lonely nights and bleakest days. Years of searching, years of slowing giving up the love she had carried for a woman who abandoned her, it all weighed on her still. She had not realized she had been silent a long time till she felt Morrigan's thumb wipe away the tears that rolled down her cheek. Leliana gasped suddenly, sealing the last chink in her armour along with the simmering rage and hurt beneath it. The Spymaster needed to know more.

 **AN: Thanks for continuing to read this despite the sporadic updates. Hope you're all enjoying where this is going.**


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